the_travelers_gatefandomcom-20200215-history
Territories
There are currently 11 territories that people can travel to in the world of the Traveler's Gate. All Territories are fragments of dead worlds bound together by the will of a founder. According to Valin, “A Territory is the severed limb of a dead world... A healthy world dies, fades, floats away. It dissolves into pieces, most of which also wane away. But some small pieces—a tower, a forest, a house—hold tight. They drift across an infinite void until they tack themselves to a healthy world, a world such as ours, like ticks on the back of a dog.” Asphodel, the Gardens of Mist Asphodel is one of the more disturbing territories for outsiders. The territory has a landscape similar to that of Avernus, though primarily flatlands. Like Avernus, it contains various trees and plants. Unlike Avernus, the denizens of Asphodel are primarily plants. As such the powers of Asphodel revolve around the native plants and the Mist, a pervasive psychic entity that feeds on all emotions especially fear and tends to leave mental scars and disorders on its victims. Asphodel is not a battle oriented Territory, but when it is necessary for Asphodel Travelers to enter combat they do so typically as support, healing others and also summoning various creatures and powers from their territory. They have very few physical protections ( at least that we have seen so far in the books), and as such require other Travelers to work with them in combat situations. The Territory is most well known for the aforementioned Mist, though it is also known for the various poisonous plants found there. The name "Gardens of Mist" is quite apt, describing the territory perfectly. Little is known about the way of life for permenent human residents in Asphodel, except that they often live in villages, as it is dangerous to go alone in the Mist. The Founder is unknown, as is the original intent for the territory. Avernus, the Feathered Plains Avernus is one of the safer and more hospitable territories. Avernus has been described by Denner as having waving plains, forests of impossibly tall trees, and sharp sided mountains The powers of Avernus center around the psychic capabilities of the native birds. Avernus travelers psychically bond with their birds forming incredibly close relationships. Avernus is not a battle oriented territory and the traverlers are better used as scouts due to the psychic link makin long distance communication possible. Some birds have exhibited the power to detect lies making them useful in interrogation, other birds have been used as advisors. The most well known power of Avernus is the ability of some birds to see the future. Avernus is not often used to travel because, it is notoriously hard to accurately travel through and is time consuming to try. The name 'Feathered Plains' was given by the first travelers to return from Avernus. However, as Hariman explained in the travler gate chronicles, the 'Feathered Plains' is actually a misnomer given because the first travelers only saw the plains and assumed that was all their was. Hariman also explained that every known animal native to Avernus is some kind of bird. Avernus travelers are seprated into five main tribes determined by the birds they bond with. Strigaia Tribe: Members are travelers who have bonded with Strigaia owls, Strigaia owls and therefore their travelers have the power of clairvoyance, this is widely known, however everything else is shrouded in myster. In the travler gate chronicles it was revealed that the travelers have no power over what they see or when, also each traveler sees something differen. The High Watcher of the tribe sees currency, she sees visions of times buying something will affect her future. Not all travelers see useful visions an unnamed traveler could only see the position of stars on any given day. However, even though no individual is too useful on their own the combined power of the tribe can shape the future. Keiren however saw when a traveler of any territory in the moments they would make an important decisions, which Denner valued more than two dozen Naraka Travelers calling fire from the sky. Hallit tribe: Members are bonded to Halliat Eagles which they use as mounts. Endross, the Lightning Wastes Helgard, the Tower of Winter Lirial, the Crystal Fields Lirial is one of two territories Leah is attuned to, which makes it one of the most used territories used in the Series. The Lirial geography are gray plains, the most well known feature are the dozen iconic moons of Lirial. The patterns, and understanding of the orbit and interactions of the moons are of vital importance to every Lirial Traveler. Naraka, the Cavern of Flame Ornheim, the Maelstrom of Stone Tartarus, the Steel Labryinth Elysia, the City of Light Elysia is the most well renowned and revered Territory among all travelers and common people. The territory is composed of a grassy plain and a city. The plain is where the gates into Elysia open, and is contains flowers of white and gold, and stretches for about two hundred from the gate to the city wall. The city protected by a vast curving walk of pale white stone and pure gold carved to look like a rushing river, it is only broken by two gates each an intricate work of gold, silver, and a rainbow of extremely large precious stones. You can only see the tops of the buildings over the wall, the sky is not blue but a rich gold like dawn lasts all day. It is a breathtaking and beautiful sight, and is a big part of the reason Elysia is thought of as a paradise. Elysia was the youngest Territory before Valinhall and is was the most powerful until it went dormant for three hundred years. Before, it's decline Elysia Travelers led all other Territories they were the ones who sealed Ragnuras, and were in charge of hunting the incarnations. Elysia Is unique in that it has born (like all territories except Valinhall) and taught (Valinhall) Travelers. The lore of Elysia (at least in Enosh) is that Elysia was created to lead the other Territories because men are imperfect and were abusing the Territories power. We know this is wrong becaus, all Territories are fragments of dead worlds bound together by a founder. The City of Light's size is as yet unknown and is divided into nine color coded districts. Each district represents a different virtue and each virtue corresponds to a Territory exept Valinhall which is younger than Elysia. Viloet represents honesty and openess, and corresponds to Helgard. Orange represents loyalty and corresponds to Avernus. Silver represents wisdom and corresponds to Lirial. Rose represents compassion and corresponds to Asphodel. Green represents patience and corresponds to Ornheim. Red represents diligence and corresponds to Tartarus. Gold represents valor and corresponds to Endross. Blue represents mercy and corresponds to Naraka. White represents selflessness and corresponds to Ragnarus. Altough each virtue has its own district Elysian Travelers teach that a single virtue by itself is meaningless and only when tempered with others can you understand it's true meaning. For example any valor without patience is recklessness.You can also look at Alin's actions after he incarnated to see the dangers of utilizing only one virtue without any other especially selflessness, this can be seen when he heals an old man without using silver (wisdom) because he didn't want see what he would see in himself and he killed the man he could have saved if he just put his wants after the mans health. For a more in depth look into the virtues read the Travlers Gate Chronicles. Elysia was dormant for three hundred years because there was no natural born travelers born for over a century until Rhalia and then none for three hundred years until Alin. The taught travelers all died fighting the incarnations until there was none left and after Rhalia incarnated there was no one to open the gates and teach any non born travelers. It is not known why natural born Travelers stopped being born or if Alin represents a return of natural born Travelers or if he'll be like Rhalia and no natural Travlers will appear for centuries. Ragnarus, the Crimson Vault Ragnarus is the most feared of all the territories due to its defining rule, all power comes at a cost, and the fact that most of Ragnarus's travelers tend to force others to pay that price for them. Ragnarus was sealed by the Elysian travelers, most likely due to the Ragnarus travelers tendency to use innocent people to pay the price the territory demands. Ragnarus was sealed for an unspecified amount of time before Queen Cynara bound it to her bloodline to combat the Elysian incarnation. Due to Cynara binding Ragnarus to her blood only the royal family of Damasca could access its power. Queen Cynara bound Ragnuras to her bloodline through a bargain with it's founder, the founders face is engraved on the door leading to Crimson Vault, it is unknown what the terms of the bargain were. The founder has only been seen interacting with Cynara after her battle with Rhalila when he turned her into an incarnation, it is worth noting he did this even though she had not drawn to much power from the territory. The founder at one point used the eye of ages and has met Rhalia, he has yet to be seen in the outside of Cynara's flashback scene. Ragnuras is one of the three most powerful territories along with Valinhal and Elysia. This is highlighted by Leah being able to intimidate multiple Endross travelers with just the appearance of one of Ragnarus's artifacts. As well as King Zakareth decimating a Enosh strike force composed of multiple Grandmasters, Alin, and his son Talos by himself. The battle did take place inside Ragnuras which weakened the powers of the strike force, and Zakareth was forced to use armor which drained his life force, but it was still a feat that few if any could match. There are living creatures in Ragnuras but none have been seen in the series and Leah a Ragnuras traveler has never seen one. Much is still unknown about Ragnuras even to Leah. Valinhall, the House of Blades Valinhall's defining rule is you can take whatever you earn. That rule is seen time and time again inside of Valinhall, one example is the garden where you have to fight the guardian Chaka if you want food and water. Valinhall is little known to common travelers and regular humans however it is well known and feared by the more powerful and well informed Traverlers. The exact age is unknown but it is the newest territory that came to prominence 50 years ago with the Dragon Army. Valinhall like all territories rely on its travelers and humans who reside in the territories to stay healthy, however due to the incarnation traumatizing the dragon army they only took from the territory without giving back to it. This was mostly due to Kai refusing to take his place as Valin's successor and new Founder of Valinhall, this left the house out of balance and leaderless. This left the Elder Nye desperate to save the house from reverting to its state before Valin bound it to his will, when it was on the verge of fading into nothing. All of the Eldest's actions in the series focus on reinvigorating the house this is seen in his first appearance when he gave Simon the nye essence in exchange for finding the lost Fangs and new Travelers for them. Simon quickly improved the state of Valinhall, albeit unknowingly, when he brought the Agnos family and captain Estruass into Valinhall to protect them. Simon never meant for them to stay but they quickly found a home with Andra being chosen by Seijan thus becoming a traveler, her parents working in the forge creating new artifacts for the territory, and Captain Estruass enjoyed sharping his skills with Chaka and earning steel from Benson. The Eldest remarks that this has already strengthened the house. Simon will also take the biggest step to right the house when he agrees to becom the Founder which has an immediate effect on the state of the House. As the Eldest explains to Simon the Valinhall grants power is unique the Traveler will call power into themselves so that they themselves can fight, whereas the other Travelers call power outside of themselves and have it fight for them. Valinhall is the most versatile of the known Territories with the ability to make the power of other territories its own this can be seen with the frozen horn which comes from Helgard. Many of the powers and beings from deeper and more dangerous parts of Valinhall are still unknown, due to only Valin and Kai exploring them to an unknown depth. At the end of the City Of Light Valinhall assumed responsibility for hunting down all future Incarnations, a duty that was last held by the Elysia Travelers. Simon also agreed to train Indirials daughter so she could earn Vasha, he also decided to track down Kathrin who had been abusing the power of Valinhall for decades. Simon also agreed to become the bodyguard of Queen Leah, this combined with the awards given by the Queen to the Travlers should lead to Valinhall becoming a well known territory. This new found fame along with Simons high position in the Kingdom should lead to finding the lost Fangs and new Travelers becoming easier. It is safe to say that Valinhall should be well on its way to becoming a stable and influential territory.